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Softball Wins Kajikawa Classic; Starts Off Season 7-0

Tempe, Ariz. - Tempe saw some of the greatest teams and players roll through town this weekend as ASU hosted the 2006 Kajikawa Classic, which featured 16-teams, eight of which are nationally-ranked powerhouses, though only one team walked away tournament champion, and that was the host team of Arizona State.

Only two teams however remained undefeated after the Kajikawa Classic, Arizona State and their in-state rival, the fifth-ranked Wildcats of Arizona.

The determining factor as to who won the tournament came down to number of runs scored and allowed with the Sun Devils topping the Wildcats with 50 runs scored and seven runs scored against them to give them an overall score of 43 while the Wildcats scored 37 and gave up one for an overall score of 36.

In Sunday's first game, the Devils faced off against the Badgers of Wisconsin where the Devils remained quiet until the third inning where lead off singles from Michelle Smith and Mindy Cowles set up Kaitlin Cochran to rip off yet another home run on the weekend to help the Devils jump out to a quick 3-0 lead.

In the fourth the Devils struck again when a lead off walk to Jen McCard followed by a home run from Ashley Werschky put the Devils at 5-0 on the day, which was all the Devils needed as the defense stepped up to shut out the Badgers, with Desiree Serrano dishing out seven strikeouts while allowing only four hits.

In the second game of the day, ASU took on Utah State for the final game of the Kajikawa Classic.

In this game, the Devils struck early, with a lead-off walk to Michelle Smith followed immediately by a double down the left field line from second-baseman, Mindy Cowles, scoring Smith.

The second inning, however is where the Devils really went to work after singles from Kristen Miller and Rhiannon Baca, followed by a walk to Ashley Werschky which loaded the bases up for Jen McCard who hit her first home run of the season, a grand slam over the left-center wall, clearing the bases.

The Devils stayed quiet until the fourth when Cochran smashed a triple and was then batted in by Miller on a sacrifice fly to center field tacking on another run.

ASU finished off the Aggies in the fifth as they rallied to add three more runs onto the tab as they cranked out six more hits to keep the Devils moving around the bases.

The Devils are now off to a 7-0 start on the season, where their first games have seen the Devils hit 11 home runs, 57 RBIs, while going 20 for 20 in stolen base attempts and keeping their opponents to a .140 batting average with 57 strikeouts for the pitching squad.

The Devils will return to action next weekend as the Littlewood Classic hosted by ASU will kick off Friday night at Farrington Stadium